The Daily O’Collegian

Suspension preceded by Dove’s arrest early Sunday morning

For the third time in three months, an OSU men’s basketball player was arrested for an alcohol-related incident.

OSU campus police arrested senior captain Marcus Dove on suspicion of driving under the influence early Sunday morning.

Dove has been suspended indefinitely for violating team policy, Coach Sean Sutton announced Monday.

“Marcus will be suspended and punished,” Sutton said in a university-released news statement.

“I’m extremely embarrassed and disappointed. We’re going to work hard to re-establish the discipline and attitude of doing the right things and representing this program properly,” Sutton said.

Dove was arrested for driving under the influence at a traffic stop at McElroy Road and Washington Street by campus police around 2 a.m., according to the campus police report.

In April, junior Terrel Harris was arrested for trying to use a false ID and obstructing an officer. On June 23, Obi Muonelo, 19, was arrested for being underage in Dirty’s Tavern, a 21-and-up establishment. Both players received in-house punishment for their actions.

“As someone who has devoted 17 years to Cowboy basketball, the image of our program is extremely important to me,” Sutton said.

Oklahoma State University will not tolerate this type of behavior, he said.

“Our players have certain responsibilities to their fellow students, our school and the fans to not only uphold the image of our basketball program, but also to set an example and do the right things on and off the court.”

Each year the team has several speakers to encourage players to properly represent Cowboy basketball, Sutton said. The speakers have included the FBI, the Stillwater Police Department, OSU campus police and district attorneys.

“We’ve made every attempt to handle certain situations internally, but obviously, the message is not getting through to some of our players. They need to understand and respect what it means to be a member of the Cowboy basketball family. We hold our players to a high standard — a standard that has been set by the previous players that have given so much to this program,” Sutton said.

Dove averaged 4.7 points and 4.5 rebounds last season for OSU and was named the Big 12 Conference’s Co-Defensive Player of the Year. He is one of two returning seniors on the 2007-08 roster following JamesOn Curry’s departure to the NBA. The Chicago Bulls selected Curry in the second round of the NBA draft last month.